Hi all,
This is going to be long so bare with me, sorry.
My son is 16 months old. He was a good sleeper when he was younger, and we occasionally get the odd night he sleeps well. However, for a long time now he's been waking in the night. We usually just give him a bottle of milk (cows) and it sends him straight back off (probably made a rod for our own back but when you're already tired, anting to get back to sleep as fast as possible).
Last night however was something completely different. When he does wake in the night he cries and does this screaming thing like in his throat (which drives me mad!) until he gets his milk. Once he's had his milk I give him a quick back rub and wind and back in to his bed no problem.
Last night - he woke around 12.45 (again when he wakes it's usually around 2-4). Did the usual milk and put him back to bed however as soon as I got myself back in to bed he was screaming again 
. My partner and I got up changed his nappy and tried again... that didn't work, if anything it made it worse because it was like he didn't want to be put back down. I was starting to get irritated so my partner took over for a bit. He brought him downstairs and think gave him some calpol in case his teeth hurt. Made him some more milk but he wasn't interested at all. Changed his gro bag to his lighter one in case he was too warm. Nothing was working.
In the end we resorted to leaving him cry in his cot (something we don't agree with) however after 30 minuets of non stop crying and screaming and throwing himself around, we couldn't take anymore. We got him out and just put him in the bed with us and cuddled and comforted him and he slept in our bed for the night. Until 6am anyway and then he was wide awake!
What is going on? I know we shouldn't be giving him any milk in the night as I think it's habit for him now but I feel we are in too deep to stop now and he will just continue to scream until he gets it. He's definitely not hungry as he eats really well through the day. He's never had a dummy so it's not something like that's falling out. He has a Muslin cloth as a comforter but usually throws it out of the cot in his temper. I've just started giving him a pillow which he also threw out of his cot in temper (last night he slept the whole night completely until 7.45am! So he can do it).
*Bedtime routine -
*
5-6pm - Tea and pudding
7pm - Bath
7.30pm - milk and into bed.
We've done this since he was tiny!
Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated! If you're still here thank you for reading.